


That weird kid Henry

by paperbackReject



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, henry is a strange boy, none of my are ever happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:54:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4772549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperbackReject/pseuds/paperbackReject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every school has that strange kid. You know the one-He's always by himself and when he is with people it's even more awkward, if not the most uncomfortable feeling in the world. You want to talk to him out of pity because it's the right thing to do, but in reality want nothing to do with them? Yeah, pretty much. That was Henry Corvus. Highschool AU. Posted on my FF account as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That weird kid Henry

**Author's Note:**

> Written in March on my FF.net account, decided to post it here.  
> I originally wrote this while listening to Lie Lie Lie by Serj Tankian.

Every school has that strange kid.

You know the one-

He's always by himself and when he is with people it's even more awkward, if not the most uncomfortable feeling in the world. You want to talk to him out of pity because it's the right thing to do, but in reality want nothing to do with them? Yeah, pretty much.

That was Henry Corvus.

He was a tall, lanky kid who almost always came to school in the same clothes and messy mop of unkempt hair. Said hair was snow white and eyes closed and under further investigation of the upper classmen it was revealed that Henry's refusal to wear his glasses caused a significant decrease in his eye sight. So he squinted, only leaving slivers of flesh to peek through. He smelled like he hadn't showered in weeks and sometimes had sharpie drawings on his arms.

Henry was a weird kid even without his looks. He never made sense and every time he spoke it was oddly sweet. Like cocaine. It looks like sugar but was not at all as sweet. It sent shivers down my spine and left a foul taste in my mouth. Not that I was the most popular kid, with my shy personality, straight A's and no social life made me the target of jocks all around campus. I was no king of the club scene but even I knew that just one 'hello' to Henry in the hallway would result in the termination of ever having friends.

I tucked a strand of auburn hair behind my ear and closed my locker, books in hand. I was on my way to English room, which I had quite a few minutes to get to class- at least ten but I figured why not? It would give me a few minutes to get settled and have some alone time. I set my binders away from me and took out a mechanical pencil. That's when HE walked in- Henry. He wore a black T-shirt with beige birds on it, ratty black jeans and a red knit sweater wrapped around his waist. Pink maker decorated his arms in incoherent squiggles. He didn't have any school books but his did have a shoebox. I kept my head down and pretended not to look at him but saw him bounding over to the desk next to mine my jaw nearly dropped. I mean, it was a class with no assigned seats so who was I to tell where he could sit? It was still rather uncomfortable. Most kids kept to the same areas out of habit and Henry was no exception. He usually kept to the back, scribbling on some paper with some occasional disruptions. Now he sat here with his shoebox of secrets, tapping his feet to a song that wasn't playing.

I sat here for a a bit before the other students began flooding in, other kids like Gaius and Donnel and a few I couldn't name took their seats with only a slight glance towards them. I could tell that their face said 'you idiot'. It wasn't my fault this kid sat next to me.

This pattern continued for two weeks. While others moved- Henry stayed. He didn't even speak to me until the third week. The week I've come to call: Hell Week.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" I screeched, standing upright from my chair and grasping at my neck. All eyes were on me as I tried to piece together what had just brushed against my neck. It was cold and sharp. I squared around and looked for the culprit who needn't have gone far. "Henry?" I breathed, eyebrows knit in confusion. The bleached haired boy's face split like the moon making way in the sky, scissors at hand he whispered "Would it disturb you to know I need your hair to stuff a cat?" He spoke just loud enough for almost half the class to hear. I nearly shook in fear.

"Just kidding!" He shrieked with laughter.

He was crazy.

And after that he wouldn't leave me alone, despite my silent treatment. This caused unwanted attention to myself. From Maribelle and her boyfriend of the week, I've lost count of the boys who attempted to bully me. At lunch he would sit across from me and stare. He wouldn't even have a lunch one day but he would just sit there like a statue. It eventually became a routine for me to be able to see him and occasionally say "hello". Although they were more mumbles than casual person to person greetings.

We'd been assigned as lab partners for a project. One of those papermache volcano or an alternative okay-ed by the teachers. This required actually spending time outside of class and school, an idea that Henry was not exactly ecstatic about. As the other students began to pair off either reluctantly or with the partner they wanted. I just sunk lower in his seat. The teacher clearly had some sort of plot against me.

If I had to describe Henry's house in one word it would be quaint. It was a one floored home, excluding the obvious attic from a circular window. I had let my father drop me off and told him to pick me up in two hours.

Henry came bounding out of his house, his twig legs unable to keep from being tangled so he just looked like a flaying flamingo flying down his front lawn. I exhaled a breath and savored it. Who knows? It could be my last. "Hi there, Ricken." He greeted, slightly out of breath. "Uh, Hi Henry." I gripped the handle of my messenger bag tight and exhaled. "Yeah so let's go inside! I'll show you around!" He made a waving motion with his hand to follow him into the house and as my father pulled out of the driveway I couldn't help but feel he'd left me for the wolves. You know I've read somewhere that in old times during famine parents would take their kids to into the woods and purposefully leave their children behind so there would be less mouthed to feed. Maybe that's what he was doing. "So this is my grandma," Henry's alto voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up after kicking off my shoes to see an elderly woman with peppered hair leaning over her cane with a magazine in her hand. "How are you?" I asked, extending my hand. She took it with a fail shake before speaking. "So you boys will be working on a project for school?" I nodded and explained that it was simply a poster about one of the books we had read during this semester We had to pick one this write a paragraph with five pictures for each one. Henry confessed rather cheerful he's never read any other them.

We had placed out all our work on the kitchen table and began working (mostly on my part). At around 12:10 or so his grandmother offered to make us something to eat. I said no thank you. I was hungry but I wasn't about to eat in his home. He seemed like the type to shoot up heroine for breakfast and drink expired milk for dinner. I turned back to my work but looked up at a shocking sight. Henry shoved his grandmother and told her to go away. You may think that it was common to shoo away hovering adults when you're trying to do something important but his way a little on the violent side. Her back hit that stove before the old woman weakly left the room. I was horrified. "She is such a bore. Don't you agree?" He spoke bitterly. This was elderly abuse but I didn't say so, Henry was clearly one of those special kids. The ones that had to check in with teachers for violent behavior and inability to completely understand things. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of his punches. The rest of the visit consisted of the sounds of cutting and pasting. By 2:03 pm my father pulled into the driveway and honked the horn. I wanted to run to the car but I stood my ground. There was no way I was going to show fear and there really wasn't anything to be scared of, I was just a weak kid who was too paranoid for his own good. "Bye Ricken!" Henry screeched in that cocaine voice of his. "You should come over to my house again sometime." He suggested and my brain screamed 'no.' "Maybe." I forced a smile and turned on my heel right towards the car. Those few paces felt like forever as I slammed the door shut behind me. "Did you have a good time?" My father asked, his hand on the back of the chair and head over his shoulder as he backed out of the driveway. "It was fine." I lied. I've never lied to my dad before.

The rest of the weekend went rather quietly. Wasting time on the computer and watching TV with the occasionally walk. The project was more or less done so I really didn't have much to do except dread the upcoming Monday.

That day was a day no man would soon forget. The day Henry Corvus was taken away.

It started out as a normal Monday morning. I hadn't had time to absorb or register that fact it was the weekend and found myself tired and grumpy with plain, sugarless oatmeal. I arrived at school forty minutes early because I had woken up late and rather than spend my time doing nothing, I caught the early bus listening to Dave Mathew's "The fly" on repeat.

By the time the teacher had opened and unlocked the classroom door fifteenth percent of my battery was gone. I decided to turn off my music for now to save battery and waited. By 8:55 I didn't think Henry would come but at 8:59 I saw him out of the corner of my eye and I reached out to wave but stopped as I'm sure everyone did. My thoughts were drowned out by the the ringing of the bell. Henry had come in, wearing the same hoodie and jeans I'd seen him in yesterday. He was as white as the ghosts he was so fascinated by and covered in blood. He took a seat in the chair next to mine and sat just like he always did.

"Mr. Corvus, would you please go down to the office? The teacher stumbled through her words, afraid of what would happen. "Don't worry, m'am. The police have been notified. They should be here any moment. I just wanted to make sure you didn't mark me as tardy." There it was, that cocaine voice again.

It was reported that they'd found his grandmother dead in their home, Henry's finger prints and strangulation bruises all over her neck.

"She was choking."

Henry had said, "I tried to help her but then she just..." He made a sound not unlike the last breath one would make. He told the police he was sorry.

And for the second time in the four years I'd seen him walk these halls, Henry opened his eyes and looked back at me before ducking his head into the police car. Grey as the shoreline skies. I never saw or heard of Henry again.

And I never made another friend either.


End file.
